ZF rebuild info.

[F4Phantom]

Hey guys we have talked alot about the several tranmission probelms/fixes/ideas. I have been puting off a rebuild because I was yet to find someone I felt comfortable with and the right price. Today I visited anothe tranmission place and again the guy took the car for a drive but this time he actually knew more than me about the problem. (I hate having to explain the background of my problem, I have this mental thing where I want them to know more than me) What he immediatly did is engine brake in 1st gear, told me how the 1st engine braking ability and reverse use the same clutch and then pulled the clutch packs out at his shop to explain how it works. So after all this, his price is around the same or a bit cheaper than other places it's all booked. He also thinks he does not think european transmissions are any better that the aussie ones we make here which apart from falcons also go into mazzerati's, and lambo's.

[genphreak]

Hey guys we have talked alot about the several tranmission probelms/fixes/ideas. I have been puting off a rebuild because I was yet to find someone I felt comfortable with and the right price. Today I visited anothe tranmission place and again the guy took the car for a drive but this time he actually knew more than me about the problem. (I hate having to explain the background of my problem, I have this mental thing where I want them to know more than me) What he immediatly did is engine brake in 1st gear, told me how the 1st engine braking ability and reverse use the same clutch and then pulled the clutch packs out at his shop to explain how it works. So after all this, his price is around the same or a bit cheaper than other places it's all booked. He also thinks he does not think european transmissions are any better that the aussie ones we make here which apart from falcons also go into mazzerati's, and lambo's.

No they are pretty similar, except that our manufacturing tooling is (generally) a little older. I've had several Commodores from new and they have enormous variances in the quality of the trannies.

When BMW fitted our ZF4HP22EHs to the e34, FoMoCo were pretty flat out building EA Falcons with 4-speed mechanical trannies and only gearing up for later versions with electronic controllers (perhaps GM got there quicker with the VL Commodore the engine in which was bought from Nissan (it was beyonfd them to tool up to build their own 'ULP/emission compliant' motor to replace the old 207 Chev red in line 6 they'd avoided replacing up until that point. The decision was helped along by a strange turn of events, by avoiding doing any work to that point, they then actually managed to score $200+ Million grant off the Federal Government to help pay for the procurement (sorry R&D) exercise).

btw; it might be worth calling ZF in Arndell Park, as they may rebuild tranny for $1500+inflation, they quoted me this much for my old E28 some years back (which had the exact same transmission as ours way fitted way back in early '86, when Ford and GM).

They have a facilities in Australia (primarily) to look after trucks and government bus transimissions as well as handle the occasional 'interesting warranty' work that Germany might want sorted out (or to know about rather than trusting those pesky Merc/BMW dealers)... Best of luck with the rebuild! Nick

[F4Phantom]

ok i will call tommorow, thanks heaps. Would be nice to think the right people would actually be good with price. BMW probably outsource to them, they quoted 7k. Who gives these guys any business?? I tranny strainer is $116 from the dealer and a full service was around $150. Anyway I think in Australia we like to talk as if we punch above our weight. In sport I would say we do, in cars we have the potential too but clearly dont!

[genphreak]

ok i will call tommorow, thanks heaps. Would be nice to think the right people would actually be good with price. BMW probably outsource to them, they quoted 7k. Who gives these guys any business?? I tranny strainer is $116 from the dealer and a full service was around $150. Anyway I think in Australia we like to talk as if we punch above our weight. In sport I would say we do, in cars we have the potential too but clearly dont!

Yes I'm afraid so, but we (ie our overseas multinationals) are getting better at digging stuff out of the ground and paying (our) pollies to turn a blind eye on our behalf :|

A tranny overhaul kit is about $30US from bmaparts.com- ie gasket, or ring and filter. I have a spare here if you need it. Expect ZF to charge more for your overhaul though; I did go there to talk to them about my car- over the phone these things can cost more than hitting the right person at the shop or at least that was what I thought as at the time. (I was scared of getting slammed, like you might be facing). However my e28 535i was not showing signs of major damage- it was most likely sticky valves that healed after a few flushes of Dexron III. They quoted me on the full overhaul though- it was probably back in 1998. wow- a long time ago... I'm getting old!

[F4Phantom]

ZF australia quoted $2600, not real bad but i am still going local.

[genphreak]

ZF australia quoted $2600, not real bad but i am still going local.

Thanks for letting us know. I'd still sway towards them over most indies as they were pretty impressive- even in their old place (they since moved). No doubt you're guy is similarly decent, and being in Melb would make it hard to do here I guess. It's a good thread this- in Australia we don't get much choice on these things usually... I was wondering how much it would have gone up since then. ouch! Nick

[F4Phantom]

Yeah my local guy was very hard to find, other "specialists" have told me to go to auto elecs, and if they dont know much about the car (cause it's not a commonwhore) they just say around 3k to cover themselves. I buzzed the ZF chick with a couple of questions, she says if there is a common problem with these that they can make mods during the rebuild. My local guy also says (take it all with a pich of salt) rebuilds used to be $800 cause they were a 1 day jobbie, now they are 3 to 4. He also commented on the new 7 and 8 speeders coming out and says they are throw away. As for the Ford ZF, it is a very different thing to a BMW zf, the ford is the cheapest of the cheap from that company. The older borg warner he says was a strong tranny untill ford made em change a few things for better economy and turned it into a 100 to 150k tranny.

[BigKriss]

$2600 still seems like a whole lof of money. Winfred gives an excellent writeup here.

[genphreak]

$2600 still seems like a whole lof of money. Winfred gives an excellent writeup here.

Great link Kriss, I've never seen that thread. What a pity the pics are not there anymore! Nick Kudos to Winfred, thanks for the effort mate, its the sort of post that really makes people's lives easier facing issues on these cars. Nick

[genphreak]

Yeah my local guy was very hard to find, other "specialists" have told me to go to auto elecs, and if they dont know much about the car (cause it's not a commonwhore) they just say around 3k to cover themselves. I buzzed the ZF chick with a couple of questions, she says if there is a common problem with these that they can make mods during the rebuild. My local guy also says (take it all with a pinch of salt) rebuilds used to be $800 cause they were a 1 day jobbie, now they are 3 to 4. He also commented on the new 7 and 8 speeders coming out and says they are throw away. As for the Ford ZF, it is a very different thing to a BMW zf, the ford is the cheapest of the cheap from that company. The older borg warner he says was a strong tranny untill ford made em change a few things for better economy and turned it into a 100 to 150k tranny.

Yep, true that, but the syntehtic fluids really help longevity and resistance to abuse. They make 'em lighter to enhance economy sure- eventually a car will barely be a fixable item. Perhaps then people will be looking for old ones that they can adequately maintain... ( I doubt it)!